This is unexpected. On the face of it, maybe even crazy and disrespectful. Feng insists she'll continue in international competition anyway, but it looks like she'll have to generate her own means of support.

Probably a matter of money. Singapore does seem to rely a lot on imported athletes, not sure how well that plays with the Singaporean public (they don't mind imported menial workers who do all the construction work on highways and tunnels but they resent imported white collar "talent" because this is seen to displace educated locals).

I suppose the real reasons will filter out eventually. Seems abrupt, considering that Feng has represented Singapore for most of her adult life, was involved in 3 of the country's only 5 Olympic medals to date, and remains one of the dominant players in women's table tennis.

Imported sports stars are somehow treated differently to imported businesspeople or academics, in that resentment and restraint of trade seem to be accepted for imported sportspeople, but the prejudicial treatment is less prevalent (in general) for the other two groups! Not saying there aren't other deeper issues.

_________________"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Yeah imported athletes are somewhat different than imported workers in terms of one is carrying the nation name and the other is imo just a cheaper alternative for odd jobs (in most cases) and jobs that the citizens themselves are unwilling to do.

But on the other hand imported workers have a bigger implications in the country's growth and development.

_________________Instagram: kimshibaCurrently listening to Departure soundtrack from the movie Gattaca

Or... thinking about this a little more.. Maybe it's NOT about money. Maybe it's politics. Perhaps public sentiment has swung away from foreign-sourced athletes, that such imports may win medals but generate mixed feelings. Somehow it's not really as MUCH of a NATIONAL achievement if you have to depend on foreigners to win your medals for you. And the ruling politicians, to appease the public, have withdrawn support from the foreign-born athletes who haven't REALLY performed at the Olympics (i.e. gotten medals). If there's one thing the Singapore government isn't short of, it's money - they have a HUGE sovereign investment fund, but they do want to roll with public sentiment if it means winning elections.

Clearly she still believes she can do better than anyone else on the Singapore team, if she's talking about forming her own team. To some extent she's at the mercy of the STTA when it comes to national representation, but she's amassing support elsewhere and will probably get it. The diplomatic niceties are being publicly observed, but make no mistake, FTW and the STTA are at war.

_________________"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

"When Yang Chuanning was sacked as national table tennis men's head coach last November, little was made known about his sudden dismissal.

But it has now emerged that the termination of his services, 1-1/2 years before his contract was up, was one of the factors that contributed to the breakdown of the relationship between world No. 6 Feng Tianwei and some senior members of the Singapore Table Tennis Association (STTA) leadership.

…Yang, 58, revealed to The Sunday Times that the women's team had made a request around October last year for him to replace Jing Junhong as head coach of the women's team.

Said Yang: "The women's team approached me privately to see if I might be interested in coaching them. Maybe it came across to some that I had instigated the players, but I never asked for the post. I was comfortable as men's team coach.

…The request, however, is believed to have caused relations to sour between Feng and the senior leadership in the STTA, eventually contributing to her recent expulsion from the national team.

Shortly after that, a public disagreement erupted between national paddler Yu Mengyu and Jing at the Polish Open."

Overshadowed by the STTA-Feng issue is the veiled payback dealt out to Singapore's second-ranked female player, Yu Mengyu (world #13, age 27), conspicuously left out of the initial announcement about who would anchor the Singapore team through the next two Olympics.

Incidentally, the STTA seems to have deleted FTW's profile from its team page a day or two prior to the expiry of her contract. Prompt, or petty?

_________________"Once you get past a certain threshold, everyone's problems are the same: fortifying your island and hiding the heat signature from your fusion reactor." –Doctor Impossible

Seems to be it's about control...Feng Tianwei has gained such a high profile and reputation that she can speak up about things she does not like about the running of the sport in the country, which the STTA don't like, so they're looking for excuses to ditch her from the team.

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